


here's the sun (i got it just for you)

by Mister_Fox



Series: monster under the bed [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24453823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister_Fox/pseuds/Mister_Fox
Summary: It's not stealing if it doesn't belong to the Gotei in the first place. And especially if Ichigo's planning to return the object to the rightful owner, anyway.UraIchi Week 2020 - Day 6, Supernatural
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Series: monster under the bed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766224
Comments: 19
Kudos: 343
Collections: UraIchi Week 2020





	here's the sun (i got it just for you)

**Author's Note:**

> I would advise reading ["stay with me (until the sun rises)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22035763) or this is not going to make very much sense.
> 
> Otherwise, here's the Cliff Notes version: Kisuke is an under-the-bed-monster that frightens children into staying safe in bed at night, and after becoming tangled in the supernatural world and learning of magic and things, Ichigo's fallen in love with him.

Ichigo skulks through the corridors, the- well, he _borrowed_ it and plans to put it back, so it's not stolen - black cloak clinging to him, and hopes it works as well on Gotei vault wards and guards as it does on Hollows, and weaker, simpler spells. Technically, he's not actually _stealing_ anything, because what he's here for doesn't belong to the Gotei anyway. It's not like they would mind anyway, since the crimes for which the item was confiscated were actually committed by someone else.

There's footsteps up ahead, and Ichigo freezes, standing very still.

Something soft and gentle brushes his cheek, and he quickly reaches up to catch the moth before it escapes the confines of the hood, _again_ , and gets spotted by the guard rounding the corner. The large insect had apparently been sleeping in the folds of the cloak when it got _borrowed_ , and only woke up most of the way to the vault.

Ichigo holds his breath as the guard passes by, but the man pays no attention to him. The moth under his palm stops struggling once they're alone again, and settles on his throat, furry legs ridiculously, adorably _tickly_. There's a lock on the vault door, easily bypassed with the skeleton key which Ichigo tries not to think about the making of.

The vault is large. The ceiling arches far above, details lost in the gloom. Shelves upon shelves of confiscated objects and dangerous artefacts curl around the room in concentric circles, getting shorter the closer they are to the middle, items getting more dangerous, more picky about what they are stored next to, until shelves turn into separate tables and pedestals, hosting velvet bags and sealed, chained iron boxes.

It would take a very long time to search through every box and container in the room, and Ichigo can't exactly see a log book or inventory record anywhere near-by. Right. Maybe there's one in the centre, if not by the entrance?

The vault swallows the sound of his footsteps as he walks along the bare stone floor to the middle of the dimly lit room.

There are three pedestals in the very middle of the room.

One is a tall block of stone with an impression of a halberd in it, and chains that seemed to have once held that weapon in place there. The destroyed Sōkyoku? On the second pedestal rests a rusted crown of a dark, unreflective metal. It is set in a block of translucent crystal, which seems pitted and warped and rotted around where it touched the crown, and gives Ichigo a profound sense of unease.

The third pedestal has a small indent on its surface, and hosts a crystal the size of a small plum, its surface dark and shimmering with tiny pinpoints of light moving across it. Exactly like the image of the Hōgyoku Ichigo saw, when the Gotei decided to explain what Aizen had been after, and what the hell had been going on while he was busy fighting his fay through their city to rescue Rukia.

It's cool to the touch, and heavier than Ichigo expects. There is a dim glow to it, and Ichigo's not sure if it is the result of touching it, or he just didn't notice before. It feels- familiar, somehow, like the presence of someone he knows but can't quite recognise. It feels _incomplete_ , that same sense of wrongness that hovers around Kisuke, that Ichigo can feel when he touches his skin, as surely as he can feel the coldness of it.

Even if Ichigo hadn't _known_ that it used to belong to Kisuke- there's probably nothing else in this vault that would feel so _similar_ to him.

He pockets it, tucking it away safely into his jacket, and turns to leave.

There's a sudden flutter at his throat, a burst of movement, and the moth takes off, flying away into the shelves.

If it wasn't Kisuke's dear pet, and wasn't such a soft and adorable menace that has managed to charm both of his sisters (and him) into feeding it endless teaspoons of juice, Ichigo might have, for a moment considered leaving it there and not chasing after it in the dark scary room full of strange and probably deadly items.

 _At least_ , Ichigo thinks glumly, scanning through rows of shelves, _it has the decency to be a_ glowing _blue-gold moth._ He finds it about ten rows out, bumping softly into a closed wooden box.

"Come _here_ ," Ichigo says, trying to catch the moth without hurting it- but despite the fact that its body is about the length of his pinky finger, the moth turns out to be astoundingly agile. "You're always so docile, what's wrong?" The moth doesn't answer, of course, and continues flitting around the box. Sighing, and hoping it's not some kind of deadly trap, Ichigo carefully reaches to take the heavy box off the shelf. And opens it.

Contrary to his half-expectations, it's not a trap.

There doesn't even seem to be anything _like_ a weapon in it.

The only thing inside it is a jagged, misshapen chunk of brightly shining pink... quartz? Some kind of vividly purple-pink semi-translucent rock.

Immediately, the moth calms down, settling on the shining pink surface. Ichigo groans. Magical moths can apparently see shiny light through solid wood. Really, he should have expected this.

He didn't come here to steal anything but what he needed. He doesn't _need_ this crystal. Maybe.... if he takes the crystal to the door, picks up the moth, throws it out the door, then drops the crystal and gets out of the vault before the moth can fly in....

Well, if it didn't immolate the moth...

The moment Ichigo's fingers wrap around the thing in the box, he realises that whatever it is- it's not a _random_ glowing rock.

He feels _cold_ and _afraid_ and _alone_ , and- no, that's not him, that's the thing in his hand that feels that, the warm, solid thing that pulses in his hand with a strange, slow heartbeat.

Ichigo only barely keeps himself from dropping it on the floor like a scalding hot potato, his hand twitching to drop it back in the box instead.

Kisuke's moth is a soul-guide, leading souls _onwards_ , helping them pass on.

A little shinigami-moth, Ichigo likes to call it.

Maybe what drew it to the box wasn't- light, but a trapped soul?

But that seems like such a _cruel_ thing to do to someone. Why would the Gotei have something like that? ...Well, it could be confiscated, of course, but then why didn’t they release the soul? If that is what is, of course.

Ichigo reaches back into the box to pick up the dropped crystal, mindful of his own feelings- but it’s not so overwhelming this time, now that he knows to expect it.

It doesn’t feel cold to the _touch_. Quite warm, actually.

A little like it’s alive, maybe.

There’s images in the crystal, seemingly drawn out by the touch. Or, not quite images- more like momentary flashes of colours and impressions, there and gone too fast to see in much detail.

It’s both entrancing and headache-inducing to stare into it, trying to _see_ something.

Two- people seem to crop up in the faint flashes, one more than the other. The rarer one is- brief glimpses of soft blond hair and startling silver eyes. The other, a shock of bright blue hair, a brilliant smile fragmented over many images, flashes of shining golden eyes.

Maybe Kisuke’ll knows what to do with the crystal. And if he doesn’t- maybe Ichigo could anonymously send it back to the Gotei?

It’s much bigger than the Hōgy, but it fits in the pocket next to it. Maybe two magic rocks can keep each other company, Ichigo’s not sure.

Somehow, Ichigo avoids any actual confrontations on his way out of the building, then the Gotei district, and then the rest of Seireitei, which- honestly, is pretty surprising. He must have used up all his bad luck last time he came in to rescue someone. The faint feeling of fright from the soul-rock doesn't abate as he leaves, and he wonders if it's less a soul, and more of an _impression_ , something caught and preserved like an insect in amber.

* * *

It’s not dark yet when he gets home, the sun still far enough above the horizon that Kisuke can’t come out.

Ichigo prepares the customary pot of tea, and settles into his chair to wait for Kisuke to appear, both stolen - no, recovered - items hidden in a pocket.

Maybe he should have gotten a fancy box for them, or something?

There’s a polite knock at the window a while later, and Ichigo waves Kisuke in, turning away from that half of the room.

He glimpses a shadow on the floor, which distorts ever so briefly as his attention fixes on it, and Ichigo deliberately closes his eyes. Kisuke doesn’t like when his body warps from observation. He’s never said it outright- but Ichigo thinks that the process hurts.

“Good evening. I see someone has borrowed my cloak,” Kisuke says, sounding amused.

Ichigo smiles, closes his eyes, turns around, and pulls the Hōgy and the crystal out of the pocket.

“Just went on a little errand, I guess.”

He can _hear_ how Kisuke freezes, the total, complete silence in the room not broken even by breathing.

“I- _Ichigo?_ Is that- Are you-”

“Take it. It’s yours.”

“ _I can not thank you-”_

“Just _take_ it. No debts owed, no repayment needed, I relinquish my ownership- anything else I need to say.” Ichigo says, shoving the Hōgy in Kisuke’s general direction until it is lifted from his grasp. “It’s _yours_.”

“It’s- it’s really _it_ ,” Kisuke murmurs, his voice cracking with emotion. “After all this time, I never thought… Ichigo-san, if you do not mind me activating it here, I would suggest perhaps standing by the door. It might be… There may be a reaction once I do, but I would rather not transport this around in its current state.”

“Sure.”

Ichigo can walk around his room with his eyes closed at this point, and so he does.

He opens them as he faces the door, keeping the tiniest eye on the shadows.

There’s a flare of magic behind him, and then it _spikes_ , higher and higher until his ears are ringing with a strange not-music, until it reaches a crescendo he can feel in his bones.

Something _snaps_ , violently, and force explodes outwards before it’s contained in a sphere, the moving air rattling things on shelves.

Ichigo can’t help it.

He turns around.

He catches a glimpse of- white and silver and grey, and then something primal, an instinct deep in his hindbrain seizes control and before he knows it, he’s on the other side of the door, holding it _shut_ , terrified.

Or, no- or, yes, he _is_ terrified, a deep terror of death, but the thing behind the door isn’t violent, it’s _just as terrified_ as him. Except whatever it is, if it had time to lash out at the sight of him before he fled, he would not have survived. He’s sure of that.

He slides down to sit with his back at the door. And waits.

Fifteen minutes later, he can still sense the thing in his room. It hasn’t left. It can probably sense him, too, but- yeah, it’s actually _more_ scared of him than he is of it.

It’s _probably_ Kisuke. Unless, say, a portal accidentally formed in his room and switched Kisuke with a strange creature, but that’s probably not likely.

This Kisuke, however, doesn’t… no, he does feel like himself. He does. Just… so much _more_ , like what Ichigo was seeing before was just a couple pieces of a much, much larger puzzle. A few notes from a full orchestral piece of music.

Okay.

Time to take a little look.

He cracks the door open, and looks inside.

At first, in the darkness, he can’t see anything out of place, can’t see where Kisuke is. And then he spots two glowing silver eyes under his bed, shadows and shapes poking out from under it where, whatever his current form _is_ , it’s not entirely fitting under the bed.

There’s a faint smell of ozone that starts to build, and Ichigo quickly closes the door.

Kisuke likes tea.

Maybe he should make some fresh stuff, and see if the smell doesn’t help him calm down.

It takes a few minutes, and he grabs a bowl in case Kisuke has paws and not hands right now, or something, and then a tray, because that’s easier to slide a fair distance across the floor if he can’t get close.

The smell of ozone is low but steady when he opens the door, and crouches down. If he’s small - would look less like a threat, right?

Ichigo inches across the floor, avoiding looking directly into those shining eyes. Eye contact could be perceived as a threat, too.

He gets pretty close, about an arm’s reach away from the bed, before he decides to just slide the tray forwards.

He trusts Kisuke, but instincts are unpredictable things, and Ichigo can’t tell what exactly is lurking under that bed.

A hand slowly inches out from the deep shadows to pull the tray behind it. There are sounds of shifting, and movement, and Kisuke seems to move so that his head is about under where Ichigo’s pillow would be, maybe?

Something strange and shapeless pokes out from under the edges of the bed closest to Ichigo now.

He waits for his night vision to come back after his brief stint in the kitchen, and eventually the shapes resolve into what seems to be tail tips.

They look soft and fluffy and there seems to be so _much_ tail under that bed that they just don’t fit anymore.

Cautiously, Ichigo reaches out for one.

There’s no reaction.

He pets the very tip of it.

All the tails twitch, and for a second Ichigo wonders if he made a mistake- but Kisuke doesn’t do anything.

He pets it a little more.

The fur is nice and soft, but it feels… unkempt and tangled and thin, as more and more of the tail escapes the shadow and safety of the bed in favour of being petted by Ichigo.

More than one tail, really, until his lap is full of soft fluff.

The fur is patchy, in places, like that of a very sick animal. Which is understandable, probably, if Kisuke’s spent- what, decades? - transformed into a creature that’s half undead.

“I apologise for frightening you,” Kisuke whispers, eventually, and Ichigo’s happy to hear that his voice sounds almost exactly like it did on the darkest nights, with Ichigo’s eyes shut tight, with Kisuke at his least monstrous. “Some of my recollections, my emotions were sealed in there along with my soul and magic. I could not distinguish between the present, and the… the rather violent circumstances in which I had lost them.”

“Yeah, I figured it might be something like that.” Ichigo pets the closest tail. “These are _really_ soft. Can you come out, or do you want to stay under there?”

“I am not a child,” Kisuke says, amused.

There’s movement, and Ichigo watches Kisuke emerge.

In the moonlit room, he can see the slightly rounded, fluffy ears sticking out above messy hair, and the mass of tails, but apart from those bits of arctic fox, Kisuke looks quite human.

“We were lucky I do not have the strength to shift to a different form,” Kisuke murmurs, shifting uncomfortably under Ichigo’s gaze. It’s the first time anyone’s been able to look at his straight on in decades, isn’t it? “I would _not_ have fit under the bed. Or in this house.”

“I didn’t know kitsunes came in arctic fox flavour. Aren’t those…. pretty small?”

Kisuke smiles, and his teeth are _sharp_. “Kitsunes are big regardless of variant. We don’t really come in fun-size.”

“ _You’re_ plenty fun, I’d say,” Ichigo mutters. He deliberately _doesn’t look_ at Kisuke’s hands, anxiously clutching his star ball to his chest, trying to hide it from view, from attention- because, really, what else could the Hōgy have been? And what kind of monstrosity had Kisuke been framed for, if the Gotei ripped everything he was right out of him?

His eyes end up stuck on what Kisuke is wearing, instead.

The same kind of simple white robe that Rukia was wearing to her execution, before it was all utterly derailed.

Right. Ichigo is gonna look at the window, before he feels even more like going to the Gotei, and knocking heads together for some answers.

“Yoruichi-san is probably asleep. Would you mind if I were to stay here until morning, when she or Tessai could pick me up by car? I do not feel… I would not like to travel alone at this moment, as I would not like to test whether shadow travel works for me anymore, and I do not think it would be advisable to make the journey on foot.” Kisuke is looking- a little lost and uncertain, like the answer could _possibly_ be no, like he hasn’t made himself at home in Ichigo’s room so many times despite half-hearted attempts to boot him out so Ichigo can work on his homework in peace.

Is he afraid Ichigo is not going to like him like this? That he’s disappointed in what he’s seeing?

“Yeah, sure. We can watch the sunrise together. I guess you haven’t seen one of those in a while, right?”

The expression on Kisuke’s face is painfully raw and genuine and _happy_.

* * *

It has nothing on the happiness that grows as they sit together on the roof, watching as the sky lightens and greys and then turns pink and orange and yellow as the sun _rises_. Kisuke’s eyes are watering badly from the light (or maybe he’s given up and is crying, Ichigo’s not sure, it’s that bad), but he doesn’t look away for a second. Ichigo’s not sure if he even blinks _once,_ drinking in the light.

Well, shit, how the hell is Ichigo ever supposed to top _this_ accidental present?

**Author's Note:**

> Comments feed my soul and writing!
> 
> [Cywscross' UraIchi Server](https://discordapp.com/invite/ADFnKTZ#_=_)


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